The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt

Janita R. Hall-Swadley

doi:10.5771/9780810883260

Summary

During his early years, Franz Liszt worked as a traveling piano virtuoso, his adventures highlighted by his entrée into the literary world as a correspondent for the most popular French journals of his time. In this second volume of Janita Hall-Swadley’s The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt, Liszt’s work as a music essayist and journalist is on full display. In his essays, readers will see the influence of the revolutionary theories of Hugues-Felicité Robert de Lamennais, Victor Hugo, and François-René de Chateaubriand as Liszt boldly calls for social reforms on behalf of musicians and musical institutions, from demands for a repertoire of church music of divine praise to the timely publication of inexpensive music editions. In addition to Liszt’s scandalous review of Sigismond Thalberg and the fiery exchange that ensued, the essays include his testimonies to living composers Giacomo Meyerbeer and Robert Schumann and the recently deceased Niccolò Paganini.

Alongside the essay, this new translation of Liszt’s letters opens a window onto the composer’s immersion in the Italian countryside, where he paints a portrait of a rich musical landscape. Liszt regales his correspondents with amusing anecdotes at Sand’s Italian country estate in Nohant, describes the beautiful landscape and artistic treasures of Italy from his residence on Lake Como, defends himself from Heinrich Heine’s accusations of his “ill-seated” character, discusses the religious aesthetic of Raphael’s painting, and offers his thoughts on the interconnectedness of all the arts. Including two complete facsimile reproductions of the existing manuscripts for “De la situation des artistes” and “Sur Paganini à propos de sa mort,” Essays and Letters of a Traveling Bachelor of Music is a must-read for student and scholars of 19th-century classical music.

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2012
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8108-8267-6
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8108-8326-0
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 570
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Expanded Contents Based on the 1880/83 Gesammelte Schriften No access
3. List of Figures No access
4. Foreword No access
5. Acknowledgments No access
1. Liszt the Politician No access
2. Receiving Liszt: Fétis, Meyerbeer, Paganini, and Schumann No access
3. A Call for Change No access
4. Liszt’s Swiss and Italian Journeys No access
5. Translator’s Notes No access
1. 1 On the Situation of Artists. Six Articles (1835) No access
2. 2 About Church Music of the Future. A Fragment (1834) No access
3. 3 About Popular Editions of Important Works (1836) No access
4. 4 About Meyerbeer’s Huguenots (1837) No access
5. 5 Thalberg’s Grande fantaisie, op. 22, and Caprices, op. 15 and 19 (1837) No access
6. 6 “Thalberg and Liszt” by Fétis (An Article against Liszt) No access
7. 7 To Professor Fétis (1837) No access
8. 8 Robert Schumann’s Piano Compositions: op. 5, 11, [and] 14 (1837) No access
9. 9 Paganini: A Eulogy (1840) No access
1. 1 To George Sand (1835) No access
2. 2 To George Sand (1837) No access
3. 3 To George Sand (1837) No access
4. 4 To Adolphe Pictet (September 1837) No access
5. 5 To Louis de Ronchaud (September 1837) No access
6. 6 At Lake Como: To Louis de Ronchaud (October 1837) No access
7. 7 La Scala: To Maurice Schlesinger (March 1838) No access
8. 8 To Heinrich Heine (Venice, April 1838) No access
9. 9 To Lambert Massard [sic] (Venice, April and May 1838) No access
10. 10 On the Condition of Music in Italy: To Mr. Schlesinger (Florence, November 1838) No access
11. 11 St. Cecilia by Raphael, to Mr. d’Ortigue (Bologna, October 1838) No access
12. 12 To Hector Berlioz (San Rossore, October 1839) No access
Appendix: Facsimiles of De la situation des artistes and Sur Paganini à propos de sa mort No access Pages 506 - 523
Bibliography No access Pages 524 - 548
Index No access Pages 549 - 569
About the Editor/Translator No access Pages 570 - 570